The End of the Beginning
by Jet
Summary: What if the Rebellion lost at Endor? What would the world be like? The first story in a series that explores this alternate universe.


  
Disclaimer:  
Okay, here we go with the routine. All the characters from Star Wars contained in this story belong the George Lucas and LucasFilm except of course the ones I made up. I'm not getting any money whatsoever off this story, just the joy of knowing that somewhere, another Star Wars fan is reliving the excitement of the Star Wars universe. (c) 1999 As for posting, yes please. As often as you want, anywhere you want. Just let me know where it's going.   
  
Author's Note:  
Well, this story's pretty self-explanatory. What if the Rebellion lost at Endor? What would the world be like? Would the survivors keep fighting or just lay low and hide? Isari Antilles, is Wedge's younger sister by two years (if you've read Childhood's End then you know this stuff). I haven't gotten around to explaining how they met up at Yavin, so let's just assume they did and leave it at that until I give you something else to work with. Any comments can be sent to jetstream@gurlmail.com, praise will be responded to accordingly while flames will be opened, laughed at and deleted.   
  
  
The End of the Beginning  
  
Sari Antilles stood on the threshold of the carrier's ready room designated to Red Squadron, feeling the excitement and nervous anticipation fill the room. She drank it in, feeling the familiar rush of fear that came every time she entered her X-wing. Wearing an easy smile that belied the fact that the Rebellion was about to mount it's largest, and potentially deadliest, attack on the Empire's death machine in only a few hours, Sari headed for her locker to collect her gear.  
"Antilles!" A familiar voice stooped her before she got there. The grin on her face widened and she spun around to greet the other pilot.  
"Wes!" With a happy laugh she fell into the baby-faced pilot's waiting arms and they hugged tightly. Finally sari stepped back and noticed the rank on Wes' flight suit. "Oh, Lieutenant Janson! When'd that happen, uh, sir?" she saluted smartly and Wes burst out laughing.  
"It's still just Wes to you," he grinned, "Anyway, I got a commendation for bravery during or fight against Black Sun and Admiral Ackbar decided they needed another Lieutenant." He leaned closer as if to confide in something secret," Besides, this is nothing compared to Wedge's promotion." He smiled at the look she gave him, "Oh no you don't. I'll let him tell you himself, he should be around somewhere." He turned to go prep his own fighter, "Oh, and Sari. It's good to have you back, things were starting to get back to normal." He winked and ran off.  
Sari watched him go then went to her locked and pulled out the holo-cube she carried with her everywhere. She sat down on the bench staring at the shimmering images, remembering times past, old friends, and old victories. She smiled as she saw a holo of Red Squadron, taken before the attack on the first Death Star above Yavin IV. With any luck this mission would have a better casualty toll.  
"Old gang better be watching over us tonight." A voice said over her shoulder, "I think we'll need it."  
Sari turned to see her brother standing over her look at the holo wistfully, a dull pain behind his brown eyes. She stood and hugged him," Oh they'll be watching us. Wherever they are they know what we're up against and they'll be doing everything in their power to help us through this. You know that Wedge."  
He nodded slowly in response to her statement, "Yeah, I guess." He shook his head and the haunted look in his eyes vanished replaced by determination. Smiling her swept her into a bear hug. "When'd you get back?"  
"Just now actually, I was serving on the Oddessy for the past three months. The crew shuttle dropped me off here." She rolled her eyes," I have one tip for you. If anyone ever asks you to crew aboard a capital ship, refuse them. I almost died of boredom. Whereas you, on the other hand, seem to have been rather busy, eh, Captain?" she eyed his rank insignia smiling, "Congragulations Wedge! I'm so proud of you."  
Wedge blushed and tried to explain. He was cut off by the arrival of Wes Janson who'd stepped between them. He draped an arm over both their shoulders and led the two of them towards the X-wing hangers.  
"Well, while the two of you have been taking a stroll down memory lane, the rest of us have been planning a mission. You two in or did you have something else in mind?" sari opened her mouth to respond but Wes cut her off, "Never mind, don't answer that. I don't even want to know what you could come up with."  
They'd reached Janson's X-wing and he released them, suddenly turning serious. "Watch your backs out there, guys. May the Force be with you." He squeezed Wedge's shoulder quickly, then gave Sari a hurried kiss. "See you on the other side!" he called out as he slide the canopy closed.  
Sari and Wedge looked at each other in shock at the emotional goodbye Janson had offered, then the hugged and ran to their respective fighters to begin countdown.  
Wedge ran through his checklist, plotted the course the squadron would take to Endor and fed it to the other X-wings he commanded. The repulsor lifts on the bottom of his X-wing kicked on, bouncing the ship five feet in the air.  
Wedge keyed his comm, "Control, Red Squadron is prepped and ready for launch."  
The calm voice came back instantly, "Copy Red Leader, you are go for launch. Rendezvous with the fleet on the other side and await further orders. May the Force be with you."  
"Thanks Control, you too." He switched frequencies to the squadron's private channel." Okay guys, here we go. The numbers have been fed into your X-wings' navcom. We'll be entering the system on the opposite side of Endor than the Death Star. Good luck."  
He'd reached deep space now; a portion of the Alliance fleet had already made the jump and was on their way to the rendezvous point. Now it was his turn, he swallowed hard and checked his display once more, "Engage hyperdrive on my mark. Three…Two…One…GO!" he pulled back on the hyperspace lever and the stars blurred into lines. They were on their way.  
  
Light years away from the Alliance fleet assembled in the Velnan system, on the small jungle moon of Endor, the Rebel drop team was having problems of their own securing the shield generators that protected the Death Star from attack. They'd been delayed when Princess Leia had disappeared and they had been forced to look for her, only to be captured by the furry native Ewoks and almost sautéed. But now, they we back on schedule, sort of.  
Han Solo swore under his breath as he crouched in the tall grasses at the edge of the clearing. Arrayed in front of him in the clearing were almost two full battalions of stormtroopers. Sixty men! He'd known the shield generator would be well guarded but he hadn't expected this. To make matters worse he could see at least a dozen AT-AV walkers moving around behind the bunker.  
"Well? How's it look?" Princess Leia asked, crawling up next to him, shoving a long strand of her chestnut hair behind her ear.  
"Not too good, princess. They got that place locked up tighter than a Hutt's bank account." He saw her features cloud over with worry and cracked a grin, trying to lighten the mood, "Hey, on the plus side we've got them scared of us. That's something."  
Leia frowned, "We have to get that shield down before the fleet arrives or the battle's lost before it even begins. There's got to be a way in. Come on, let's see what the others think." They started to get up but were interrupted by Threepio who was deep in conversation with Teebo, one of the furry Ewoks who inhabited the moon. "Oh dear." Threepio started to rise to look into the clearing beside the bunker.  
"Stay down!" Solo hissed at the droid.  
"Threepio, what is it?" Leia demanded, not taking her eyes off the ranks of stormtroopers.  
"I'm afraid our furry companion has gone and done something rather rash." Threepio said slowly.  
"What? What are you talking about?" Leia fought to keep her voice calm  
Han's hand gripped her arm, "Look."  
Paploo had scurried down the hill to where the stromtroopers speeder bikes rested against the trees. The little ball of fur mounted the bike nearest him and began flipping switches at random. Suddenly the engine roared to life, deafeningly loud in the silent air. Grinning madly the little Ewok fiddled with the throttle control and the speeder flew into the woods, a squadron of stormtroopers shouting to each other hoped on their speeders and gave chase.  
Chewie growled from beside Han and Han nodded "So much for a surprise attack." He started to stand and charge into the fray but the princess stopped him.  
"Han. Are you crazy? Paploo may have thinned them out slightly but there's still over fifty men down there. What's your plan here? Walk up and ask for a tour?"  
"You know that's not a bad idea." He grinned lopsidedly, "We have to get that shield down quickly, Leia. You said so yourself. The fleet'll be here pretty soon, unless you can think of a better way, we go in, guns blazing, maybe someone'll get the shields down in time. We're fresh out of options here."  
Leia opened her mouth to object, but closed it again immediately. He was right, of course, there was no other way. She turned and signalled the group of twenty odd commandos behind her, explaining the situation carefully to them. Some looked a little apprehensive at the odds they were facing, but all nodded to show they were with her.  
"Remember, take as many of them out as possible from the cover of the trees, distract them as much as possible. Han, Chewie and myself will try to slip in and plant the charges. Got it? Okay, let's do this, we've only got one shot at this so let's make it count!"  
Simultaneously the twenty commandos opened up on the stormtroopers below, taking full advantage of their height and the cover provided to help them slaughter the troopers and draw their attention from the bunker and into the surrounding trees.  
Han slipped a blaster into Leia's hand and motioned towards the bunker, "They won't be distracted for long. Come on princess, Let's get this done."  
The two of them and Chewie moved towards the bunker taking the occasional pot shots at the troopers below. Finally they were within range of the door and as it turned out, in prime position to see the first of the walkers erupt in flames as the Ewoks smashed its head in with two large tree trunks. Han raised his eyebrows at the sight of the furry animals jumping around the downed walker excitedly. "I guess the little furballs are good for something. Let's hope they keep it up. Artoo, can you get those doors open?"  
The little droid twittered and rolled to the socket, plugging himself into the database. A moment later he hooted triumphantly and the doors slid open. Leia grinned and ran the few feet to the door, taking up position just inside to cover the others' entrances. When they were all inside Artoo slid the door shut again, the ominous clang magnified in the silent corridor.  
"Oh my," Threepio said, sounding slightly distressed," Perhaps I should have waited outside."  
"Can it, Threepio. You're here now, so make yourself useful." Han snapped at the droid, then turned and continued further into the bunker. "Come on, we have to find the command centre."  
"Well there's no need to be rude." Threepio sniffed, Artoo warbled at him,   
"Oh don't you start, you miserable hunk of tin. You did not 'say so'" Artoo only twittered in response and rolled away after Han and the others, leaving Threepio alone to fume in the darkness, "Well I never…"  
Leia was the first one to reach the command centre; she poked her head carefully around the corner and checked out the situation. She brought her head back around the corner and the group retreated a few feet.  
"There's only five of them in there. Two look like techs, but you never know. I guess they though those guys outside would everyone out." She smiled slightly, " The trick is to take them out before they can call for help. Any ideas?"  
Han thought about it for a minute, his brow creased in concentration, "We could just set the charges and run. They might not be found if we set the fuse short enough."  
Leia shook her head, "Too risky, the charges still might be found and disarmed. We have to be sure about this." She bit her lip, "Okay, here's what we'll do. Chewie, you take one of the charges and place it somewhere where it'll do a lot of damage, then get out as fast as you can, give us a five minute fuse, that ought to be enough time. Take the droids with you. Han and I'll try and take the control room, and place the other two charges in there." The Wookie growled unhappily but took the charge Han offered him, then he and the two droids moved off deeper into the heart of the bunker.   
Leia and Han looked at each other, then the two off them threw themselves around the corner blasters spitting deadly energy. There were shouts of surprise and pain from the troopers inside and Leia prayed that non of them had been in the middle of a transmission at that moment. One after another they fell victim to the Rebels' laser fire and lay still.  
Han pulled out the two high powered explosives he'd had on his belt, working quickly to place them evenly around the room.  
Leia knelt by the fallen troopers relieving them of their blasters and comlinks. The last comlink she found, however, wasn't silent like the rest. Voices squawked from it, when they got no answer they became more distressed, eventually they cut off altogether. A lump of ice filled Leia's stomach. "Han! We're about to get company! Let's move it!" She pushed herself off the ground and ran to cover the door they'd entered by, "Han? Hurry up!" Where was he? He should have been done setting the charges by now.  
She heard a noise behind her and spun around, blaster up and ready, and almost dropped it. Two full squadrons of stormtroopers stood behind her, blasters trained unwaveringly on her, and among them stood Han, hands bound behind his back, a glum expression on his face.  
Leia locked eyes with Han and he nodded slowly. Reluctantly she dropped her blaster and put her hands on top of her head, getting killed wouldn't help anything. Immediately, she was surrounded by troopers. Her arms were yanked roughly behind her and bound tightly. Then she and Han were led out of the bunker into the clearing.  
Leia's heart bottomed out and she saw the look of defeat in Han's eyes as well as she took in the scene in front of her. The survivors of the commando group were kneeling on the ground in the middle of the clearing, watched closely by three dozen white armoured troopers. Beyond the clearing Leia could see a few more white clad stormies searching the trees from more surviving Rebels.  
Solo and Leia were led to the middle of the circle and forced to kneel. Leia desperately thought of Chewie and the droids, could they finish the mission? They had to, it was the Rebellion's only hope. She looked around hopefully, but found no opportunities for escape.  
The stormtrooper in front of them laughed at the defeated look in Leia's eyes, "Say good bye to your pitiful Rebellion." He sneered, bringing his blaster up. A bolt of energy flew at Leia and hit her in the chest. She gasped and collapsed at Han's feet.  
"Leia!" Han tried to run to her, but was held down by two troopers. His gaze caught a flash of light high above, then another as the fleet entered combat, and he closed his eyes. It was over, they'' failed. Then the world went black.  
  
High above the peacefully floating moon, in the bowels of the Emperor's newest toy, Luke Skywalker was starting to realised just why it was that the Emperor ruled the galaxy with fear. He was terrified.  
He'd surrendered himself willingly to Darth Vader in the hopes that he'd be able to turn his father from the Dark Side. But now, after watching Vader in his master's presence, Luke was no longer sure.  
The Dark Lord of the Sith leaned over the youth, taunting him as if echoing the Emperor's own words of disdain. Luke stood tall and tried to release his anger and fear, to let them rise above him into the vastness of space and dissipate there. When he was in control once more he spoke, evenly and defiantly, "I will never join you. I'd rather died a thousand times before I give myself over to the Dark Side."  
The Emperor simply laughed, "Ah, young Skywalker, you do not understand. Your destiny is sealed, you will join me a rule by my side, I have seen it."   
Luke raised his chin defiantly and refused to answer. Vader added in a mocking voice, "You cannot win, son. You know it as well as I do. The Rebellion will fail and your 'friends' will die. Open yourself to the Force you know it to be true." Again Luke did not answer but Vader could sense the boy's emotional turmoil as his friends perished and their souls cried out to him through the Force.  
Vader allowed himself a smile beneath his mask, his son would join him, of that he was certain and together they could kill the Emperor, they could rule the galaxy. All Luke needed was a push in the right direction to push him over the brink.  
Vader felt the disturbance in the Force the same time Luke did, Han and Leia crying out to him, their minds full of despair and defeat. Then Leia cried out with pain, a cry that sent an icy stab of pain into his brain, leaving him trembling. Luke swayed noticeably but managed not to cry out. Vader watched his son, reaching into his mind and probing to find the weakness that had affected Luke so strongly. At first he was a little puzzled. Sister? Luke had a sister? He frowned; Obi-Wan had out-smarted him again. No matter, this new development could be used. He spoke again. "Obi-Wan was wise to hide your sister from me, Skywalker. But your feelings have betrayed her. If you will not join me, perhaps she will."  
Luke squeezed his eyes shut, trembling uncontrollably from head to toe. "No…" the moan escaped past his gritted teeth and Vader move in for the kill. "I suspect she would be easier to turn…" he muttered, half to himself, sending Skywalker images of his sister by her father's side, ruling beside him, Skywalker did not disappoint him.  
"NO!!!!" The cry ripped from Luke's throat as he flung out his hand and his lightsaber leaped into his hand, igniting in mid-air. His attack came so suddenly the Dark Lord was thrown off balance and was forced back on the defensive. But Luke didn't let up; he attacked the Dark Jedi again and again driving him back further and further. Vader stumbled and went down under Luke's attack, when he looked up he saw Luke standing above, staring down at him, his face flat and emotionless.  
The Emperor clapped and egged Luke on, "Yes, my boy! Finish him, then take his place at my side, we will rule the universe forever!"  
Luke hesitated and looked at the Emperor, yes, he could do it, he could kill Vader, take his power and step up to rule to galaxy…Then he glanced at Vader, lying at his feet, and somehow saw his father in the hulking form below. He smiled, a cold, humourless smile. He let his anger fill him, let it give him the power and strength he needed. He knew exactly what to do.  
Vader saw the smile creep across Luke's face, saw the look of hatred in his eyes and knew Luke had made his choice. With an effort the Dark Lord pulled himself up and faced his son. Suddenly Luke thrust out a hand at the Emperor and blue streaks of lightning curled themselves around the Emperor's frail form. Vader too, joined in Skywalker's efforts, repelling the retaliation energy the Emperor sent back at them and pulsing more Force energy into his ever-weakening body. The Emperor shrieked as he writhed in pain on the floor, slowly his convulsions becoming smaller and smaller, until they stopped altogether. Grimly Vader picked up his former master and dragged him to the ventilation shaft. Without hesitation he hefted he frail body over the railing and watched as it fell into the bottomless depths below. Breathing hard he turned and regarded his son, judging his reaction.  
Luke stood, staring at the spot where the Emperor had lain, feeling his body still filled with the anger and rage he'd kept bottled up inside. He revelled in the power he felt, the different kind of Force, he was refreshed and thrilled. His blood sang in his ears and his head felt light, awash in the power of the Dark Side.  
After awhile the sensation passed and Luke opened his eyes. He saw Darth Vader regarding him, contemplating. Luke looked around with the new sense's he'd picked up, feeling every thing so differently.  
Vader stood and walked over to the youth, he place a hand on the boy's shoulder and directed his gaze towards the large viewport which offered a crystal clear view of the battle raging outside. "You have done well, Luke. Now join me in defeating this pathetic Rebellion and we shall face of destinies together."  
Luke smiled as he looked out at the chaos of space battle, feeling the Dark Force fill him once more. Yes, this was where he belonged.  
  
Outside, the battle was not going well for the Alliance, the Death Star's shields were still up despite Lando's assurances that "Han'll come through, just give him a little more time." and the once mighty Calamarian cruisers had lose shield power and were dropping like flies.  
Wedge Antilles ducked instinctively as he flew directly under the explosion that had once been a TIE fighter on his tail. He wrenched his starfighter back around to face the fleet and saw yet another cruiser fall victim to the Imperial Star Destroyers' deadly turbolaser fire. He grimaced and hoped that Han and Leia could get that shield down, they couldn't take much more of this.   
"Watch it, Leader! You've got one on your tail!" Red Seven screamed in his ear. Immediately Wedge threw his ship into and evasive spiral designed to bring him below and behind the fighter on his tail. He glanced at his sensors and spotted to blip immediately. The TIE fighter had followed him doggedly through the manoeuvre and was still solidly fixed on his tail.  
"Tink! All shields aft." Green laser light streaked past his canopy and Wedge juked his X-wing to the left suddenly, again the TIE followed him, spewing green death at him. A few bolts spattered harmlessly on his shields but they were coming too close for comfort. It was all Wedge could do to make the other pilot miss, forget getting around him.  
Something caught his eye outside the canopy and he grinned suddenly, "Hold on, Tink." He shouted to the astromech droid behind him. He threw the X-wing in a spiral weave that he hoped would confuse the pilot behind him a little. When he was exactly ninety degrees from his initial position, Wedge straightened out his X-wing, ignoring the G-forces that pulled at him and opened the throttle all the way.  
The TIE pilot, a little miffed by Wedge's tactics gave chase, still spewing grey death at the slower craft from behind. Suddenly the X-wing in front of him pulled up and to the left, he got a glimpse of another X-wing flying down and to the right before his TIE slammed into the fighter who had, until recently been tailing Red Nine.  
"Nice flying, Nine. Thanks for the assist." Wedge called over his comm.  
"Anytime, Lead. You're not too shabby yourself." Janson's voice came back and Wedge could almost see the grin in his voice.  
"Don't let me keep you waiting, Wes. Go join the fun." He switched frequencies, "Lando? Any reading on that shield yet?"  
The other man's voice came back strained, accompanied by the wail of alarms. "Not yet Wedge, but Han'll come through, he always does."  
"What'd Ackbar say?"  
"I dunno, we lost communications with Home One over ten minutes ago. Listen, Wedge, we've just got to give them more time."  
"Time is the one thing we haven't got right now, Lando. We can't keep this up much longer. Let me know if anything changes."  
"Will do. Watch yourself."  
"Right." Wedge muttered to himself, "Okay, Red Squadron, here's the deal, we need to buy the fleet some more time, break into your elements, pick a target, the bigger the better, and go after it." He got a series of acknowledgements in response. "One Flight you with me?"  
"Red Two, all set to mop up whatever mess you leave Wedge."  
"Red Three, all systems up and running."  
"Red Four, ready for anything, Lead."  
Wedge smiled as Sari pulled up behind and slightly starboard of his fighter. The other two fighters took up the same relative positions to Wedge's left. "Okay, we're going after that Super Star Destroyer behind the Titan, it's been causing the most damage so I figured we'd discipline it. Take out anything that gets in your way and try and take out the bridge shield generators with your torpedoes on your first pass. Let's do some damage!"  
  
Sari gave a loud Corellian battle cry over the comm and followed Wedge's lead into the seething battle. The yoke shook slightly in her hand and she frowns, sparing some concentration to flick her eyes over the display. Her frown deepened as she read the data scrolling by. "Dusty, the stick's a little sluggish. See what you can do with it would you?" Her astromech trilled and extended a soldering arm to fix the offending system.  
Sari directed her attention once again to the problem at hand, eyeing the SSD in front of her, looking for sweet spots and pressure points.  
"Fighters incoming! 8 o'clock!" Red Three shouted, as he and Red Four broke away to engage. Wedge's fight rolled around to port and Sari copied his every move. "One Flight, set up for a head to head. Take out as many of the first wave of eyeballs as you can and engage the second wave. Keep an eye out for the ones you missed coming up from behind." His calm voice came over the speakers, buoying her life a life preserver in high seas.  
She watched as the numbers diminished rapidly on her scope, four kilometres, three, two and a half. At two kilometres she hit the firing stud on the control stick, tracking towards the nearest TIE, the red ribbons of light closing in on the weaving craft. Sari wondered briefly at the lack of return fire, then she heard the pure tone that indicated a target lock in her ear and the image of the TIE went green in her firing bracket. She fired and the energy beams came together to meet in the centre of the enemy fighter, chewing through the starboard wing pylon and sending the eyeball into a fatal spin towards to Death Star. Then she was through the first wave and the second one was upon them.   
"Red Three, watch you're back!!"  
"Where is he? I can't find him."   
"Hold on, I'm coming, break right on my mark."   
"I can't shake him!" there was a scream from Red Three and on her display the blue blip that marked him winked out of existence.  
"We lost Red Three." Red Two reported sombrely and Sari could hear his whispered goodbye to his wingman through the static.  
She blinked back the tears, Mylo, Red Three, had been a good friend, he hadn't deserved to die, but then no one really did. She shook her head, now was not the time for emotion, there'd be time for grieving later, if there was a later. Gritting her teeth she dove into the fray, watching Wedge's X-wing spiral and juke randomly, trying to shake a tail, but she had no time to worry about him. A shrill alarm warned her that a pursuing TIE had gotten a lock on her. She slammed her foot down on the left rudder pedal and weaved the fighter all the way through her tight turn.  
Green laser light streaked past, centimetres away from her canopy and again she juked right, boosting her throttle and heading out towards the edge of the battle, closer to the moon that filled her viewport. The TIE behind her responded, giving chase and staying on her tail. Sari smiled as she tossed her ship into a spiralling plunge towards the green moon below her. The pilot behind her took the bait, closing in for an easy kill. Sari all but ignored the pursuing fighter, keeping her gaze locked on her sensor display, "Dusty, on my mark pull all energy from shields and transfer it to the rear repulsor trusters." The droid beeped at her, alarmed. "Just do it Dusty. Ready? Now!"  
She jerked the stick straight up, using the extra power in her trusters to bounce her ship off the planetary shield instead of slamming into it. The belly of her X-wing skimmed the invisible wall of energy sending sparks into the air around her. Sari held her breath as she boosted the repulsor lifts and the fighter was pushed out of danger. She checked her scope ready to dodge another hail of fire from her pursuer, and grinned. The TIE behind her hadn't been as lucky as she had. His faster craft lacked the manoeuvrability of her X-wing and he had slammed into the shield while trying to pull up.  
Scratch one untrained pilot, she thought smugly to herself, pointing her ship back towards to dogfight in the distance. Should've paid more attention to the chapter on situational awareness. She double check the damage report Dusty gave her, grimacing a little at the state of her shield power supply and the damage her stabilisers had taken. "Okay Dusty, even out the shields for now, and try and fix that stabiliser if you can." The droid chirped and got to work.  
"I've got one on my tail! I can't shake him!"  
"Where are you, Red Six? I can't see you?"  
"Help!" Red Six shrieked, all semblance of calm disappearing from the young pilot's voice. "He's getting clo.." the transmission ended in static as Red Six vanished in a flaming ball of expanding gas.  
"Read Lead, you've picked one up!" someone yelled at Wedge and Sari searched the melee for her brother's X-wing. She spotted him immediately and brought her own fighter around to point in that direction.  
"Lead, bring her around to mark four oh nine and be ready." She saw his X-wing weave away from the fighter behind it as the green bolt flew on all sides of it. Wedge rolled his fighter up onto his port side S-foil and rotated on the X-wing's axis, pulling out and diving his fighter below his original line of flight just as Sari dove down, guns blazing, on the TIE behind him. The pilot saw his own death flying at him before his fighter blew apart in a spectacular explosion.  
"You all right, Lead?"  
"Got a little scorched back there, but I'll live, Thanks Two."  
She smiled, "Anytime." She was about to say more when a brilliant flash caught her attention. Her heart trip-hammered as she realised what had happened. She stared at the expanding ball of flame that had, until recently, been a fully shielded, fully equipped Mon Cal Super Cruiser, one of the mightiest ships in the Alliance fleet. The comm suddenly came alive with voice, most of the distressed. Numbly, she switched to the private channel she shared with Wedge. "Wedge, did you just see…?"  
"The Death Star fired on us." She could hear the dread in his voice and knew hoe he felt, the Death Star's laser was supposedly non operational, yet it had just reduced one of the Rebel's most powerful capital ships to scrap with a single burst.  
She glanced at her monitor and swallowed. The Shield around the Death Star was still up; protecting it from any assault the Alliance could throw at it, while it systematically blew apart their fleet. "What do we do now?" she whispered, still staring at the remains of the cruiser as it burnt itself out.  
  
Down on the jungle moon, Chewie crouched in the trees on the outskirts of the clearing trying to come up with a plan that wouldn't leave them all dead. So far he wasn't having any luck. He'd seen Han and Leia led out of the bunker and watched the troopers stun them and the rest of the commandos. The majority of the Rebel's were now loaded into a ground transport, with the remaining few soon to follow.  
"Oh my. I do believe we are in quite a lot of trouble, Artoo. I believe the Death Star has just fired on the fleet."   
The Wookie turned and growled at the droid to be quiet, then checked his chrono for the hundredth time. The charge he'd set with Artoo's help should have blown almost a minute ago. Rumbling worriedly under his breath he decided to give it another minute or so before he went in with his bowcaster.  
Then a thought struck him; he turned and rumbled a question at Artoo, who answered with a semi-triumphant beep. Chewie looked at Threepio for a translation, growling impatiently while Threepio ignored him.  
"Oh? Oh! Artoo said that he believes he can set the charges off without the timer…however, he has to be plugged into the interface to which the charge is connected." He thought about what he'd just said and his voice became distressed, "Oh dear, that's the bunker's datafile. Master Chewbacca, I do hope you're not intending to ask Atroo to try and activate the charge from the bunker."  
Chewie just growled and grinned, showing a row of sharp fangs at the droid, "Oh, we're doomed!" Threepio moaned.   
Chewie motioned with his bowcaster and the three of them made their way quietly, or as quietly as two droids and a Wookie can travel in dense forest, along the forest towards to blast door and the jack into the computer. It was slow going, with Chewie flattening himself to the ground every hundred yards or so and shoving the droids into the foliage while stormtroopers passed by. Eventually they made to the door and Chewie barked at Artoo who, trilled quietly and rolled cautiously out of cover and towards to computer jack. Chewbacca watched nervously, raising the bowcaster slightly to cover the little droid better.   
Silently, Chewie and Threepio watched the little droid work for an eternity, willing the stormtroopers not to turn around and notice the little astromech. Then the lights on Artoo's dome head went green and winked on and off as his head spun around, his approximation of a victory dance. Carefully, Artoo disconnected himself from the computer and rolled back to where Chewie and Threepio were waiting, whistling quietly.  
"Artoo says he's given us a thirty second fuse before the charges go off."  
Chewie grumbled under his breath and urged the two droids in front of him, away from the bunker. There was a loud whump behind him and the ground shook under his large feet. The clearing erupted in chaos as the stormtroopers ran to examine the damage caused by the blast. Chewie glanced at Threepio.  
"My sensors are not picking up the shield around the Death Star anymore. It is possible that it's only a temporary condition of course. But, I believe we might actually have done it."  
Chewie barked happily and picked the golden droid up in a jubilant hug then set him down and hefted Artoo in the air and smacked the droid with a hairy kiss. There was a shout from behind them and Chewie instantly forgot their recent achievement. He picked up both droids and plunged into the cover of the trees, back towards to Ewok village and the relative sanctuary it offered.  
  
On the bridge of Home One, Admiral Ackbar's flagship, the Admiral watched with ever mounting despair as his fleet was reduced to shambles by the Imperial forces. Already, thirty of the eighty odd capital ships had been completely neutralised, with another twenty or so severely damaged. His fighters were faring slightly better with the squadron's losing sixteen of their collective sixty pilots.   
He sighed, "Comm? Do we have communications back online yet?" he demanded in his gravely voice. The young ensign below him at the communications terminal looked up at him and shook his head.  
"Not yet, sir. That hit really damaged the subspace antenna. It'll take another ten minutes at the most."  
"Is there any other possible way to get a message out to the fleet?"  
The ensign shook his head again, "Not when they're so spread out Admiral. Perhaps we could get a shuttle to the closest ship and they could alert the fleet."  
The Admiral nodded, "Thank you. Get that comm fixed as soon as possible. I need to speak with my fleet." The ensign nodded quickly, "I'm on it Admiral, sir."  
Ackbar turned and was about to issue more orders to his personal aide, when there was a blinding flash outside the viewport. He gaped in shock as a gigantic bolt of laser energy sizzled past and slammed into the Rebel's Pride barely five kilometres away. The Pride disappeared instantly in a cloud of debris and the shock wave shook the bridge of Home One sending Ackbar sprawling.   
He pulled himself up and gazed at the remains of the Rebel's Pride in shocked silence, aware that the entire bridge had gone silent in the aftermath, officers and ensigns alike looking at the Admiral for his reaction.  
"Sir?" the young ensign at the communications terminal inquired, "I think I have it back online."  
Admiral Ackbar looked at him blankly, still reeling from the shock of what he'd just seen. He blinked his big fishlike eyes once and took a deep breath. "Very good. Thank you, now give me an open channel to the fleet. That Death Star just fired on us and the shields are still up…It's over.  
"Attention all Alliance ships. Pull back and prepare for retreat. Rendezvous at the appointed location and await further orders."  
The comm squawked with protests and some relief, but one voice was louder and more insistent than the rest. "Admiral! Admiral, listen to me, I know they'll come through for us, I just know it. Give them a little more time."  
"I've given them all the time I could General Calrissian, but with that Death Star operational my fleet won't last more than ten minutes, it'll be a slaughter. I'm sorry Lando, but Han didn't make it in time." He could hear the other man begin to protest again and braced himself, but the argument never came, on the other end of the channel Lando had gone quiet. "General Calrissian, are you alright?"  
"Better than alright Admiral, check you're displays and tell me I'm not dreaming." Lando's voice suddenly became very excited, Ackbar nodded to the officer below him who was almost bursting at the seams himself.  
"Admiral! Our readings on the Death Star shields indicate that they went down approximately thirty seconds ago, our team on the ground came through!"  
"All ships, abort retreat. The Death Star's shields are down, repeat, the Death Star's shields are down, regain battle formation. All fighter squadrons report in."  
"Green Leader standing by."  
"Blue Leader, ready to go."  
"Grey Leader standing by."  
"Red Leader, all systems up and ready."  
"Squadron Leaders you may begin your runs, Green and Blue squadrons provide cover for the others on their runs. May the Force be with us, this could our only shot at this." He got a series of double clicks over the comm that told him the others understood their orders, "Lando, take the Falcon in with Red Leader and Red Two on their run, use you extra fire power to punch through that shaft."  
"Right Admiral. May the Force be with you."  
"Weapons, target that Super Star Destroyer to our port, aim for the starboard dorsal engine! I want it taken out now!"  
  
"Red Squadron, bring her around, we're going after the big fish now. Red Two, Red Four, you guys are with me on the first run. We cover for the Falcon, let our birds fly and hightail it out of there. Everyone else, help Green and Blue Squadrons hold the door open for us. If this works we'll be coming out of there in quite a hurry. Everyone clear? Okay, let's do this." Wedge's voice pulsed over the comm, calm and professional, and Sari checked her display and monitors again. She blew out a breath and fought down the nervous fear she felt in her gut. She watched as Wedge's X-wing took position in front of her and his thrusters ignited. She reached over and boosted her own throttle to follow him into the trench.  
"Falcon, you still with us back there?"  
"With you and ready, Wedge. Let's blow this thing so we can go home."  
Sari laughed, "I've more than one old smuggler say that Lando, let's hope you're as good a shot as they are."  
"You doubt me?" Lando asked, mock hurt in his voice.  
"Okay, guys enough chatter. Two, Four, we're going in after Lando, and going in fast. Try to keep the TIEs off as long as possible. There won't be much room in there and they'll be breathing down our necks so we have to make it quick. Red Group is commencing attack."  
Sari boosted her ignition and took off after the Falcon, diving towards the monotone grey surface below her, trying to pick out the trench they we aiming for by eye. The Falcon twisted in mid air and dropped straight down, swallowed up by the metal expanse. Without a second thought Sari followed, dropping gracefully into the deep artificial trench and swooping in directly behind the Falcon. She looked around above her, knowing that the fighters would be coming soon.   
"See them yet Red Four? Leader?"  
"Nothing yet, Sari. Stick with it, we might get lucky and they'll be out of position."  
"I can't see anything from this angle, and my sensors are practically useless. Green Leader, can you keep an eye open for those fighters?"  
"Copy that Red Four, you're clear for now…Wait, there they are, point eight seven oh nine. Green Three, you're closest, move to intercept."  
"Copy Green Leader, moving to intercept. They're coming in fast, Red leader, be ready!"  
In the trench Sari checked again over her shoulder in the direction Green Leader had pointed out. Squinting against the sun Sari managed to make out the sunlight reflecting off the metallic hulls of the approaching fighters. As she watched one of the slits of light expanded outwards in a ball of superheated gas as he fell victim to Green Three's deadly aim.   
"I got one of them for you Red Group, the other three slipped past me…Sorry." Green Three's voice was accompanied by the harsh wail of alarms in the background, then the transmission cut off as his battered fighter exploded.  
"Here they come!" Red Four yelled in her ear as the group of fighters passed under a low bridge and into a narrower section of the trench.  
"Hold position, guys."  
Sari ignored the fighters drawing ever closer behind her and focused on Wedge's X-wing in front of her and the trench walls around her. Her scope had gone completely blank due to the interference the Death Star's electrical systems played on her X-wings sensor systems. Dusty gave a terrified squeal from behind her and she dove her X-wing quickly just as a flash of green light whizzed past her canopy. "They're here!" She shouted into her comlink hitting a switch as pushing all shield power to her stern to give her minimal protection they offered. Her X-wing began crossing with Red Four's in an effort to throw off the targeting of the pilots behind them, but Sari knew that within the confined spaces, even the evasive manoeuvres and shields wouldn't help them for long.   
Beside her, Red Four's X-wing took a hit, jerking wildly as Kyran tried to keep the craft level as his droid repaired the damage. The TIEs behind them seemed to sense that Kyran was in trouble and moved in for the kill, concentrating all their combined firepower on the shuddering X-wing. Sari watched the proceedings helplessly as Kyran juked desperately up and down trying to avoid the bolts, but the old saying held true. The more that hit you, the more that will. The hit the X-wing had suffered had slowed down its responses, allowing the fighters behind to target with ease. Kyran's X-wing blew apart in a brilliant explosion, raining bits of scrap metal down on Sari's own fighter.  
"We lost Kyran, Wedge. They're coming up fast, better make this quick!"  
The green energy bolts fizzled past with more regularity now, playing colourful patterns on her shields as they shrank with each hit. Sari tried every trick she knew to make the pilots behind her miss, a task made relatively difficult by the enclosed space, but she managed fairly well.  
"Sari, Red Nine and Red Ten on the way. We're coming in to clear off your tail. Hold tight, we'll be there in a second."  
She grinned grimly and weaved her starfighter in a series of tight S-turns that left her wings almost scraping the metal walls, "Better make it quick, Wes. It's getting kinda toasty down here." She pulled up hard and swerved to the right she caught a glimpse of an explosion against the wall as a TIE fighter overshot her X-wing and slammed against the unforgiving metal and she smiled, her smile faded however when there was a loud whump from behind her. She winced as a panel behind her head exploded, erupting into flame and filling the small cockpit with smoke.  
She dropped down to a few feet above the surface and yanked at the flame-retardant lever beside her, trying to control the flames. The X-wing bucked suddenly beneath her and Dusty shrieked in terror, Sari looked disbelieving outside at her starboard S-foil as her upper wing utterly disintegrated. "Dusty, transfer as much power as you can to shields and calibrate for flight with three wings."  
She wrestled with her suddenly unresponsive fighter, fighting to juke it away from the heavy laser fire behind her. There was a metallic spang as her shields failed completely, Dusty screamed once and then went silent.  
"Sari? Hang on, I'm coming. I can see them up ahead. Just hang on." Janson's voice seemed very far away, almost dreamily Sari reached up and fingered the starfighter charm she wore around her neck. Her vision started to blur, her fuzzy eyesight catching and locking onto the holo of her, Wedge and Janson smiling together on Hoth. She smiled sadly to the holo and closed her eyes. Her X-wing shuddered again, more violently this time. Sari opened her eyes and keyed her comm, "Wedge?"   
The world exploded in light and pain, then, just as suddenly went black.  
  
Wedge twisted around as he heard Sari call out to him and saw her fighter blow apart as if in slow motion, heard her cry cut off as the expanding fireball consumed her, and something inside his chest snapped. He heard an anguished cry rip from his own throat and he squeezed his eyes shut against the flood of pain that washed over him.  
Voices were shouting at him from very far away, urgent, familiar voices, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. He opened his eyes and tried to concentrate on the words, eventually they began to make sense.  
"Wedge! Pay attention man! Those fighters are still on our tails, snap out of it!" Lando yelled at him as the two remaining ships of Red Group squeezed through a narrow opening and into a smaller chamber.   
"Wedge? Wedge, hang on up there, we've got you covered. You okay?" Janson's voice came over the comm, thick with emotion and strain. As if to attest to his words of assurance one of the pursuing TIEs juked too hard to port and slammed into the wall. The other came on relentlessly as Wedge tried to pull himself together, now was not the time to deal with his grief, he needed to concentrate.  
"Lando, we're running out of time back here!"  
"We're running out of trench too, we should be able to see it by now."  
Wedge dodged a salvo of fire from behind and decelerated rapidly, trying to confuse the pilot behind him, he heard the harsh alarm of a target lock in his ears and punched it, sending the X-wing rocketing forward and rolling up on its starboard S-foil. The TIE pilot wasn't fooled and he closed in on Wedge's weaving craft, the green bolts coming ever closer to the canopy. "Wes? You back there? I'd appreciate some help up here."  
"I'm trying Wedge, this guy's slippery."  
Wedge cursed and rolled to the left as much as he dared, wincing as a laser zinged off his shields. He swooped down and levelled out as Lando read out the distance to the end of the trench. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the TIE careen off and hit the left wall, spin around and explode against a protruding pipe. Wes' victory cry followed on the comm.   
"Got him for you, Wedge. You're all clear. Jenkins and I are heading back out, unless you need us anymore."  
"Go for it Wes, get out of here. Lando, how we doing?"  
"Four kilometres. Three, two and a half, two, one and a half. Fire torpedoes!"  
Wedge launched his concussion missiles seconds after Lando loosed his and pulled a tight turn to head back out the way he'd come. He winced inwardly as the passed the spot where Sari had died; the remains of her broken starfighter still smoking. Then he was out of the trench into clear air and rocketing away from the Death Star behind him. At a safe distance he spun the fighter around to watch the display. A second passed, then two. He frowned, the missiles should have detonated by now, turning the Death Star into a flaming inferno, yet it was still hanging there serenely, orbiting the peaceful jungle moon below.  
Wedge's heart froze up as he realised what the lack of an explosion meant. "They didn't go in…We didn't do it." He whispered quietly to himself in the silent cockpit, staring in dismay at the intact war machine. "Lando, did you see them go in? Or did they just hit the surface?"  
"I don't know, Wedge. I was already turned around before they hit the vent." His voice cracked with strain as their ships hung in space.  
"Is the shield still down? Can we get another run in?"  
"Even if it was we couldn't. I only had two missiles on board, the ones you're hauling wouldn't penetrate." He sounded resigned, defeated.   
"So what now?" Wedge asked quietly, not really wanting to hear the answer. But even as he watched the Death Star's giant turbolaser streaked out and connected with another Rebel ship, the third one in just five minutes to be completely destroyed. And he knew without question the only course of action the Alliance had left. He heard a click on the comm as Lando switched frequencies to speak with Admiral Ackbar and turned back into the raging dogfight, determined to cause as much damage to the Imperials as he could before the order came for him to retreat.  
He dove in from above, guns blazing, and a TIE who'd been chasing Blue Nine fell victim to his deadly lasers almost immediately. "Thanks for the assist Wedge." Tycho Celchu's said as he brought his fighter up even with Wedge's. Wedge could see the other man in his cockpit, looking over at him, he threw Tycho a half-hearted thumbs up and swept his X-wing in a tight turn that landed him on the tail of an enemy fighter. The pilot juked crazily, trying to get away from Wedge's guns, twisting, turning, accelerating, nothing worked. Wedge set his jaw and came on mercilessly, the image of the TIE chittered in his targeting brackets then went green, he fired and the TIE exploded in a brilliant but brief flash of light.   
"Attention all Alliance ships, pull back from the confrontation and proceed to the rendezvous point. We'll regroup there and come up with further plans. Repeat…" Wedge turned off his comm and Ackbar's voice cut off abruptly. He blinked once and turned his ship towards to exit vector numbly. They'd lost, and the Emperor was still on the loose with a giant war machine, he shuddered at the thought. He ran the hyperspace co-ordinates through the computer one more time and flicked up the protective cover plate over the hyperdrive lever that prevented it from being pulled in the chaos of battle by accident. Tink beeped once at him, indicating the computer had finished calculations. He took one last look around, knowing that if he ever returned Endor probably wouldn't be there anymore…whispering a soft good bye to fallen comrades Wedge gripped the lever in his right hand and pulled up, watching as the stars straightened into blurred lines and his ship entered the realms of hyperspace, leaving behind it broken dreams and gently floating debris.  
  
  



End file.
